(no subject)
I really like playing with my books. I mean, reading them of course, but also selecting them, arranging them, deciding what to do with them once they are read....
I joined Bookmooch in February, when I was starting to think about moving, and have taken it as a challenge to clear out my bookshelves. I used to keep every book I ever touched, excepting only those I found so vile that I was obligated to remove them from the world (usually by throwing them away, occasionally using fire) or those I loaned out to friends (after exacting promises for their safe return). I mean, I love books. I respect what a book is and what it represents, and believed hoarding them was the only appropriate behavior.
This is responsible, in part, for what my parents still call "my room throwing me out" in high school - the collections started overwhelming me, and I moved out to the family room couch. My room had become too full for me to fit in there. Mom and Dad took matters into their own hands - which I bitterly resented at the time - and boxed up all my books. I got some back, when I made space for them, but I still remember the outraged feeling of being separated from my books.
Over time, and in part because of my transient lifestyle, I have become more minimalist. Not just with books, but it has carried over. I spent four summers working in Bristol Bay, far from the road system, bookstores, and easy access to the great book stashes kept by most of the women in my life. I packed up boxes of books and shipped them out in advance, lugged backpacks so heavy that my family refused to carry them through the airport for me when I left, and read anything and everything I could get my hands on. Books tend to pile up in field camps and commercial fishing boats, left behind by people with a wide variety of tastes. The Igiugig field station runs towards Louis L'Amour, old field guides to western ____ (insert genus of your choice), and Reader's Digest Condensed Books. Most of the fishing boats I was on were heavy with spy thrillers and romance novels, which I always found hilarious because I was one of about five women floating around with the fleet. Since most of those other women were tougher than nails, I could only conclude it was the fishermen hauling along Nora Roberts and Harlequin romances. Our main office in King Salmon had a bit more variety since more people pass through the bunkhouse on their way to and from field camps, but those shelves also leaned towards pulp fiction and slender novels. I began freeing the vast majority of the books I hauled out to lighten my luggage and introduce some additional variety into the stockpiles. I mean, I appreciate romance novels on occasion and read a lot of mysteries, but was also reading a lot of non-fiction, biographies, and science fiction which I liked leaving for others to enjoy.
When I drove out to Virginia almost four years ago, my car was stuffed with one tote and one suitcase of clothes, a pile of camping gear and sporting equipment, a tote of kitchen stuff, some photo albums, and boxes upon boxes of books. Getting ready to move the other way, I realized that many of these books don’t mean much to me, and started lightening the shelves.
I believe in buying new books to support authors I would like to see keep publishing. I even buy hardbacks, despite my pitiful graduate student income and my preference for reading paperbacks, for the same reason. But I also like used book stores and sharing books with friends - these strategies offer more intimate connectsion and provide me with a different book experience. In keeping with that idea, I joined Bookmooch at
joyce and
madgenius' suggestion, and it has been really fun. Getting rid of my books is easier when I know I am sending them to other eager readers. I have sent books as far as Finland and Jamaica, Trinidad and Great Britian. Sure, those cost more in postage, but it makes me happy to belong to an international community of readers, as well as earning me extra points.
I did some book rearranging today, to make room for my mini-DVD player on the shelf (since I am using it more, it is nice to have it accessible). I wound up moving all the books I own and have not yet read to two shelves, and posting another 10 on my Bookmooch inventory. While I was at the site I checked my stats and realized that I have given away 49 books, and listed another 52 to give away (once added to the inventory they live in a laundry basked in my closet, so I can keep them straight). Adding those numbers, I have freed 101 books to find new readers, and it feels good. I have also received 35 books (some of which I read then re-listed), and collected a whole whack of points to redeem for books in the future. Between playing with Bookmooch and the 2007 reading list (current totals: 42 books, ~13,000 words read), I am spending a lot of meta-book time, and I love it.
As a kid, my plan was to grow up and own a book store with a bed in the middle. During the day, I would pile books on the bed as a display, and at night I would sleep there, surrounded by shelves filled with magic. I decided in the second grade that I was going to be a writer when I grew up. I dressed up as a book for Halloween that same year, and still think it was one of the best costumes ever. Our library trips were important to me, and I was the only kid around allowed to check out more than twenty chapter books at a time, since the librarians knew how careful I was with them and saw my despair at the idea of being without a fresh book. In elementary school, my sister used to fret that I was going to "run out" of books in the local library, and explain to people that we were saving the huge municipal library an hour away for when I "ran out" of books locally. Going to the Loussac in Anchorage was a pilgrimage for me, and there was never enough time for me to do all the exploring I wanted. I still love going to the library and used book stores (new bookstores overwhelm me, so they are't as much fun). I probably spend more time in Title Wave than any other commercial establishment when I am home, and my one visit to Powells' inspired me to tell the clerk that I was moving in. He seemed to think I was kidding. If only he knew how serious I was...
In another life, I think I will be a librarian. Petting books and organizing information makes me happy.